<ul><li>Jewellery for brides is chunkier and most pieces constitute 30-250 gm weightage, says a <keyword id="113718" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="world-gold-council" source="Orion">World Gold Council</keyword> report. </li><li>Rupee gold price has almost doubled since 2012, but it has had little effect on sales. </li><li>Bridal segment is mostly made of 22-carat gold, and dominated by traditional pieces like necklaces or chokers, haars (long chains) jewellery sets, apart from maang teekas and more. </li></ul>An Indian bride is worth her weight in gold. Hence it’s no surprise that <keyword id="182966" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bridal-jewellery" source="Orion">bridal jewellery</keyword> accounts for half of all the jewellery sold in India, according to a World Gold Council report. Also, India is the second largest jewellery market in the world Jewellery for brides is chunkier and most pieces constitute 30-250 gm weightage, unlike the next two categories – daily wear which has lightweight pieces in the 5-30 gm range and account to 35-40% of the total sales. Fashion jewellery, where pieces are even lighter at 5-20 gm of gold, have a 5-10% share. Gold vs destination weddings “Bridal jewellery remains the dominant segment (50-55% market share by weight), despite rising domestic gold prices over the last decade and stiff competition from other luxury purchases, such as destination weddings and foreign holidays,” the report said. The love for gold has sustained the price rise too. The Rupee gold price has almost doubled since 2012. Even as this change made manufactures gradually shift towards lighter weight pieces, bridal jewellery has been relatively price inelastic, losing only around 5-10% market share in that time, as per field research quoted in the report. Going forward, it expects the demand from brides to remain robust. India is a young country with more than half the population below the age of 25 (and 65% under 35). Although there are no official figures for the number of weddings in India, an estimate is between 11-13 million per year, as per the council. “As the average age of marriage for women in India is 22, the number of weddings per annum looks set to remain strong. Considering these numbers, demand for bridal jewellery should remain robust over the long term,” the council predicts. <div type="image" title="bridal jewellery" msid="97168522" hostid="261" sizebytes="101086" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Source: Pixabay &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> High on purity and tradition Bridal jewellery, unlike other segments, is also skewed towards the high-value pure gold segment. The bridal segment primarily includes 22-carat jewellery and is dominated by traditional pieces like necklaces or chokers, haars (long chains), jewellery sets, apart from maang teekas and more. Daily wear jewellery like mangalsutras, earrings, chains etc. cover all the three segments of 22, 18 and 14-carat gold. However, 22-carat remains dominant with more than 80% of the market, and 18 and 14 carat combined account for a 15-17% share, with both having increased over the last decade. “The growth in lower caratages has been driven by three factors — the growing popularity of modern designs, the increase in rupee gold prices, and the growth of studded diamond jewellery,” says the World Gold Council. Studded diamond jewellery is predominantly sold in lower caratages like 14 and 18 because it is purchased for adornment rather than investment. Also, it is easier to make thinner and more delicate designs in harder alloys (with low carat gold), which again works better when the designer wants to set stones. Online &amp; export sales Indian <keyword id="6379337" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gold-jewellery" source="Orion">gold jewellery</keyword> also has a wide export market especially in countries where a lot of Indians reside. Over the last decade, nearly 90% of India’s jewellery exports have flowed to just five major markets, namely – the UAE, US, Hong Kong, Singapore and UK. While India does export to 146 countries, most of them are extremely small customers including Australia and Canada where a lot of Indian diaspora reside. “Trade bodies also need to help focus a spotlight on Indian craftsmanship, as a large part of Indian jewellery is hand-made – a skill that is appreciated globally,” the report says. Domestically, Indian jewellers are also exploring online and e-commerce options to drive sales. While it currently makes up for only 5-10% of jewellery sold, there is scope for growth, the council believes. “About a decade ago very few jewellery retailers focused on online sales, but today every large and mid-sized retailer has an online platform. Lastly, rising internet access and the advent of social media have allowed retailers to interact directly with their consumers in new ways to create brand awareness and drive sales,” the council says. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/gold-prices-hit-life-time-high-amid-looming-recession-hope-that-fed-will-slow-its-rate-hikes/articleshow/97061060.cms">Gold prices hit life-time high amid looming recession &amp; hope that Fed will slow its rate hikes</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/9-in-10-super-rich-indians-get-richer-in-2022-knight-frank/articleshow/97033671.cms">9 in 10 super-rich Indians get richer in 2022, confident of minting money in 2023 too: Knight Frank</a>

Brides buy half of all gold jewellery sold in India says World Gold Council report

<ul><li>Following an ultimatum from Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra, <keyword id="8264" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sabyasachi" source="Orion">Sabyasachi</keyword> has retracted his ad for his latest <keyword id="6356382" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mangalsutra" source="Orion">Mangalsutra</keyword> collection.</li><li>The brand was trolled heavily for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by promoting its ‘<keyword id="12401445" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="royal-bengal-mangalsutra" source="Orion">Royal Bengal Mangalsutra</keyword>,’ a part of their Intimate Fine Jewellery line.</li><li>In the past few weeks, many brands have been trolled about their campaigns on social media and brand Sabyasachi is the latest to retract its ad.</li></ul>Another brand bows down to the pressures of online trolls this week. The latest brand to fall victim to online bullying is Fashion designer <keyword id="7202" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sabyasachi-mukherjee" source="Orion">Sabyasachi Mukherjee</keyword>'s label. He withdrew his latest campaign for his mangalsutra collection on Sunday after Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra issued a "24-hour ultimatum" and threatened to send the "police force." "I have warned earlier as well. I am personally warning designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee and giving him a 24-hour ultimatum. If this objectionable and obscene advertisement is not withdrawn within 24 hours, then a case will be registered against him and legal action will be taken. The police force will be sent for the action," said Mishra in a video message that he posted on Twitter. After this warning, Sabyasachi took to Instagram and stated that he was "deeply saddened" that the advertisement campaign "offended" a section of the society and withdrew the campaign. The mangalsutra campaign by Sabyasachi's brand featured intimate portraits of same-sex and heterosexual couples sporting ‘Royal Bengal Mangalsutra’ of Intimate Fine Jewellery line. Soon, the internet flooded with #boycottsabysachi comments and trolls started calling the campaign ‘anti-Hindu’ and ‘offensive.’ Sabyasachi isn’t the only one who has withdrawn his ad after receiving threats from trolls and politicians. In the past few weeks, <keyword id="62997" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="dabur" source="Orion">Dabur</keyword>’s Fem and <keyword id="6492243" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fabindia" source="Orion">FabIndia</keyword> were also at the receiving end of social media trolling for their digital campaigns.

After Dabur and FabIndia, Designer and entrepreneur Sabyasachi withdraws mangalsutra ad

<ul><li>Social media trolls are not going to disappear from the internet anytime soon.</li><li>Trolls can heavily tarnish a brand’s image, also significantly impacting the brand’s marketing plans to promote any newly launched product or service. </li><li>Tanvi Bosmia, Associate Account Director - Brand Experience, SoCheers shares some tips on how to deal with social media trolls.</li></ul>We’re living in an era where access to the internet is super easy. People love sharing their unfiltered opinion on social media considering it has always been a space for freedom of expression whether it’s a compliment for the brand or a complaint against them. Each individual is entitled to their opinion, no matter the impact it could have on the person or the brand on the receiving end. Brands today need to have a social media presence, period. It’s the easiest way to reach an exponentially large audience. And with all the positive aspects of this exposure, there also comes a negative side - the Trolls! Though ‘boycott culture’ is as old as social media, unfortunately, 2021 can be labelled a year of outrage as many brands were made to pull off their ads. For instance, Tata’s jewellery brand, Tanishq, faced a considerable amount of backlash for its advertisement showcasing their new collection Ekatvam, featuring an interfaith babyshower. The brand got heavily trolled for promoting inter-faith marriages and “love jihad”, and soon saw a boycott trend as well. This led to a fall in stocks for Titan amid all the trolling and Tanishq pulling the video down, even though the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said that there was nothing indecent or vulgar or repulsive in the advertisement, to cause grave and widespread offense. Similarly, there were many campaigns like Manyavar’s “Kanyamaan”, Dabur’s Karwachauth ad, Sabyasachi's "Mangalsutra Collection'', FabIndia's “Jashn-e-Riwaaz” and so on and so forth, who faced major fallout for their progressive thoughts. Unfortunately, such trolls can heavily tarnish a brand’s image, also significantly impacting the brand’s marketing plans to promote any newly launched product or service. This also leads to the brand’s message getting lost in all the chaos created by these trolls. This in turn leads to upsetting consumers who are actually there with genuine intent. Here are some solutions for managing these troll situations better: <ol><li>Effective ORM Practices: Trolls don’t always easily stand out and it could be difficult for the brand to identify between an unhappy customer and a troll. Usually, trolls initiate a conversation which is controversial in nature whereas an unhappy customer will settle down once their complaint is addressed and resolved. The timing is super important and considering how fast social media platforms move, it’s essential for the brand to ensure that they respond within an hour’s time and give out a contact number/email ID to write to or simply ask them to “DM” (direct message) to take the conversation further. Any delay in response from the brand’s end can lead to speculation and stir up further agitation in the customer. Timely responses play a very important role and can go a long way in converting the unhappy customers into a part of their community which will also help in weakening the troll community.</li></ol>1. Do(n’t) Engage With Trolls: Once the brand has identified a troll, indulging in a conversation with them could be tricky. Anything that goes out from the brand’s handle on social media is a direct reflection on the company and one wrong response could have an entirely irreversible and negative impact on the brand image. Hence, responding with factually correct information can help defeat these trolls. Having said that, it is also difficult to reason with trolls and getting into an argument with them could only fuel the fire further. So, in such cases, the ideal solution for the brand would be to report their messages/comments and also watch out for anyone else interacting with the troll to avoid it from escalating. 2. Effective Crisis Management: Setting up a crisis committee who can create a plan of action that consists of all the possible solutions for every type of message or comment can help the brand to be prepared for anything that comes next and tackle it accordingly. Social Listening is a really effective way to monitor and track any negative sentiment that pops up about the brand on the internet and makes it easier to take action in real time. There are various listening tools that can help to effectively tackle the trolls, avert any such crisis and avoid the brand image from getting hampered. 3. Making Happy Customers Your Spokesperson: Set clear guidelines to ensure that all communication that goes out from the brand handle is religiously/politically safe and doesn’t hurt anyone’s sentiments. Identify brand ambassadors from their followers who ardently follow everything that they post and can speak for the brand, building a positive sentiment about the company. Maintain full transparency and put out content that showcases the values the brand stands for and how valuable their customers and their feedback is for them. This, in the long run will help build a community that will also police these trolls and stand by the brand in crisis situations. For instance, Flipkart got trolled last year after one of its service executives told a customer that the company cannot deliver goods in Nagaland because it doesn’t “deliver outside India”. The response was probably a genuine error; however, it was too late by the time Flipkart realized and apologized since they had already been hit by the trolls. To sum it up, social media trolls are not going to disappear from the internet anytime soon. The best way to avoid getting trolled is to be fully prepared and set up a process with the team that manages the brand handles on how they will deal with trolls or unhappy customers before any such situation arises. Once the process is in place, based on learnings, the brand can chart out a detailed plan of action on how they will address &amp; tackle the various different situations that could arise in the future and also ensure the brand image is intact.

Tackling trolling: How trolling affects brands

<ul><li><keyword id="1961443" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mission-mangal">Mission Mangal</keyword> is an upcoming Bollywood movie based on India’s mission to Mars — Mangalyaan.</li><li>The film is being celebrated for having a female centric cast but that actual mission was not dominated by female scientists.</li><li>The movie’s message is also coming off a little skewed with <keyword id="2823" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshay-Kumar">Akshay Kumar</keyword> getting more space on the posters and the movie’s teaser highlighting makeup, sindoor and mangalsutras.</li></ul>Mission Mangal, an upcoming Bollywood movie based on India’s mission to Mars, is attempting to showcase Mangalyaan as accurately as possible — including the people who were a part of the mission. 
 <div type="image" title="66816772_10156986660608283_8557114509213302784_n_edited" msid="70553174" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Cast of &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Mission Mangal&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 The movie starring Akshay Kumar as the lead has a predominantly female star cast including <keyword id="3844" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vidya-Balan">Vidya Balan</keyword>, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Nithya Menon is set to release on August 15 — India's Independance Day and the the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) 50th anniversary. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/akshay-kumars-mission-mangal-could-miss-facts-about-mangalyaan/articleshow/70498232.cms">Mission Mangal</a> is poised to showcase the role that women had to play in the mission’s success. Only a cloak of feminism While it’s true that women had a lot of key contributions to Mangalyaan, the mission wasn’t as dominated by women as Mission Mangal’s trailer would have you believe. At the time of the launch, the <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/isro-scientists-who-made-mangalyaan-possible-all-you-need-to-know-about-them-1727791.html">control room</a> had as many as 14 senior male scientists present and only 3 female scientists. 
 <div type="image" title="isro-women-scientists-celebrate-mission-mangal" tempid="143684" msid="70553372" hostid="261"></div>

 The photo of women celebrating the Mangalyaan launch that’s recently been making the rounds is of the administrative staff, as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38253471">clarified by ISRO</a>, and not of female scientists at the helm of the mission. Only 27% of the key executive positions in the mission to Mars were held by female scientists while Mission Mangal’s trailer only shows one senior male scientist on a team dominated by women. Some people are <a href="https://www.shethepeople.tv/blog/film-mission-mangal-poster-vidya-balan">calling out</a> Kumar for using feminism as a ploy to sell more tickets to his movies rather than actually tell the story for what it was. Mission Mangal belongs to the ladies When the movie’s poster was launched it faced some criticism for giving Kumar a bigger display and then female actors. 
	<div type="twitter" handle="janiceseq85" handlename="Janice Sequeira" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1124213290421215232/sG31bAcN_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1416" retweetcount="356" status="There are 5 leading ladies on this poster. And one Akshay Kumar. Guess whose face got the most mileage?… https://t.co/1jQeokV3Sx" createdat="1562244220000" id="1146761493544951808"></div>



 Rebuffing any misconceptions, Kumar told <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/akshay-kumar-mission-mangal-belongs-to-its-female-actors/articleshow/70288960.cms">TOI</a>, “This film belongs to these ladies and it will always belong to them.” But, soon after, the actor stirred another controversy tweeted a poem dedicated to women scientists that spoke mostly of makeup, bracelets and their hair touching the sky. 
	<div type="twitter" handle="akshaykumar" handlename="Akshay Kumar" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1085067824840822785/ychTUtB8_normal.jpg" favoritecount="20404" retweetcount="2318" status="Jitna uncha ho asmaan, yeh sindoor utni door tak jaayega! Here’s celebrating the women of India who make dreams com… https://t.co/ybh72HrIcO" createdat="1564642762000" id="1156821708667441155"></div>



 The teaser in the tweet highlights women being ‘determined’, ‘fearless’ and ‘inspiring’ but speaks of attributes that define Hindu married woman like sindoor and mangalsutra. Twitter users have pointed out that it’s all too common to see Bollywood — even Hollywood for that matter — using feminism as nothing more than a marketing tool to inadvertently serve the patriarchal interests of the film industry. But others states that the problem could lie with the audience that needs to be sold a movie that has a strong male lead because of fears that an entirely female led cast might bomb at the box office. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/akshay-kumars-mission-mangal-could-miss-facts-about-mangalyaan/articleshow/70498232.cms">The truth of ISRO's Mangalyaan which Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal could miss</a>

Mangalyaan was not as female centric as Mission Mangal would have you believe

<ul><li>Controversies have always been a part of the advertising industry and the year 2021 was no different.</li><li>The year was full of ups and downs and a lot of brands landed in trouble for hurting religious sentiments through their campaigns.</li><li>We look at the year gone by and some brand controversies that erupted in India.</li></ul>2021 was bitter-sweet for the Indian advertising industry. This year gave us beautiful campaigns such as Cadbury’s remake of the famous stadium ad with the wonderful jingle Kuch Khaas hai, CRED’s Indiranagar Ka Gunda that still continues to appear in memes on the internet, Bhima’s Pure as Love ad that challenged the status quo, to mention a few. However, it was also a year full of controversies. Many brands landed themselves in trouble and numerous campaigns had to be pulled off. It is not too difficult today for a small tweet to snowball into a boycott trend, something that is every marketers’ and agency’s nightmare. At the same time, when brands have a presence on social media, they start having an opinion or a voice. If brands err on the side of caution, they are simply selling products to consumers and not engaging with them on a personal level. There will always be users who support the brand for standing up and fighting for causes they believe in but there will also be those who would oppose them at the slightest disagreement. GenZ is also becoming increasingly aware of how advertising works and is able to separate grey from black. They view brands as a form of self-expression and to connect with them, brands are also expected to go beyond just selling their products. They are known to connect with brands that they feel are socially and environmentally conscious. So, while many experts advise brands to steer clear of religious topics or make any political statements, there’s also pressure on brands and companies to take firm stands on issues that matter to these young consumers. As brands try to find the balance between making the right statement and offending a majority in the coming year, here are a few brands who found themselves in troubled waters this year: Manyavar Bridal wear brand Mohey had released a commercial that aimed to offer a fresh perspective to the Hindu wedding ritual 'Kanyadaan.' With its campaign featuring Alia Bhatt, Mohey promoted women empowerment and gave a more gender-sensitive touch to the age-old tradition of ‘Kanyandaan’ in Hindu weddings and insisted on bringing in ‘Kanyamaan’ instead. “Through the film, Mohey’s brand ambassador Alia Bhatt questions the conventional beliefs that require a daughter to conform to being ‘given away’ at her wedding. She makes a choice on her wedding day to rethink rituals, stating what Kanyadaan means in modern times, making it more equal and progressive for her present and future generations,” explained its press release. However, this campaign did not sit well with Twitter users. It flared up a controversy on social media and the hashtag #BoycottManyavar started trending on Twitter. The trolls slammed the ad for mocking Hindu traditions. <div type="Youtube" id="PmCSjllj7KU" title="Tradition wahi, soch nayi - #KanyaMaan" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PmCSjllj7KU/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Cadbury beef row Mondelez India had found itself in a soup too after a few screenshots surfaced on Twitter suggesting that its Cadbury Dairy Milk may contain gelatine derived from beef. Trolls were quick to call for a boycott on all Mondelez products but some users even pointed out that the screenshot being shared is that of Cadbury Australia’s website. <div type="twitter" handle="DairyMilkIn" handlename="Cadbury Dairy Milk" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1327255370444668928/1NjkNhJE_normal.jpg" favoritecount="963" retweetcount="241" status="https://t.co/798qgPozsF" createdat="1626616484000" id="1416758336909840387"></div> The chocolate and snacks giant later clarified that its products in India are all vegetarian. It said that the screenshots circulated were of the company’s products sold overseas. FabIndia Clothing brand FabIndia was criticised for its collection named 'Jashn-e-Riwaaz.' Twitterati alleged that the campaign purposely tried to hurt religious sentiments by associating the name ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’ with Diwali, a Hindu festival. They even had a problem with women not wearing their badges of being married such as bindis, bangles and sindoor. <img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_QtZMjBdF1IzxVsGfF-JJA9Ay8JnJ0Wi32rrZqt3afDt1I-XSVm0eDC32PSnZrKOt-UFIRK_eODZ8qFOxPHjAbApT11QpXRIedGKzayNHEpJc_b7jvfR_bJZ94X5-fONJ_UpTUJU" /> Tejasvi Surya, MP and National President of the BJP Yuva Morcha had tweeted, “Deepavali is not Jash-e-Riwaaz. This deliberate attempt of abrahamisation of Hindu festivals, depicting models without traditional Hindu attires, must be called out. Brands like Fabindia must face economic costs for such deliberate misadventures.” Soon after that tweet, FabIndia deleted its post across social media and renamed its collection to ‘Jilmil-si-Diwali.’ Sabyasachi The designer brand was trolled heavily for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by promoting their ‘Royal Bengal Mangalsutra,’ which is a part of their Intimate Fine Jewellery line. The ace designer behind it, <keyword id="7202" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sabyasachi-mukherjee" source="Orion">Sabyasachi Mukherjee</keyword>, decided to withdraw the campaign after it triggered an avalanche of online trolling for hurting religious sentiments. He retracted his campaign after Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra issued a "24-hour ultimatum" and threatened to send the "police force." <div type="image" title="Sabya and mangalsutra ads" msid="88322071" hostid="261"></div> Dabur’s Fem In the same week, Dabur’s Fem Cream Bleach advertisement stirred a boycott trend for showing a same-sex couple celebrating the Hindu festival of Karva Chauth. <div type="Youtube" id="-yu4_BIPkXU" title="Fem Ad on Karwa Chauth | Dabur Fem Controversial Ad | Viral Video" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-yu4_BIPkXU/mqdefault.jpg"></div> CEAT CEAT Tyres was criticised for an ad featuring Aamir Khan in which the actor was seen advising people not to burst crackers on Diwali. <div type="Youtube" id="wm4kOghHQ24" title="Switch to CEAT SecuraDrive | Aamir Khan- Cricket" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wm4kOghHQ24/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Zomato Zomato landed in a controversy in October after a customer from Tamil Nadu alleged he was denied a refund for a missing item in his order as he didn't know the ‘national language’ Hindi. Soon, a massive backlash followed on Twitter with many slamming the food delivery app for imposing Hindi on its customers. This also led to hashtags "Reject_Zomato" and "ZomatoSpeakTamil" trending on top. Fortune oil When Sourav Ganguly, BCCI President and Former India Cricket Captain, suffered a mild heart attack in January, netizens happened to re-discover his old ad endorsing Fortune's Cooking Oil. It then triggered a slew of tweets and jokes with people questioning the effectiveness of the oil and also wondering how the brand will tackle this crisis. <div type="twitter" handle="arifaajakia" handlename="Arif Aajakia" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1463855466463862798/ZR5EoEHM_normal.jpg" favoritecount="161" retweetcount="13" status="Dada, get well soon. We love you. You are a tiger, you will come back roaring. @SGanguly99 https://t.co/F5rkPAlmNE" createdat="1609734280000" id="1345949241093586946"></div> On Valentine’s day this year, the brand published an honest print ad clarifying that there are many factors that can affect our heart's health. Adani Wilmar’s Fortune rice bran cooking oil was the only brand that did not bow down to trolls. <div type="twitter" handle="FortuneFoods" handlename="Fortune Foods" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1230878437541371904/69ad0EW2_normal.jpg" favoritecount="15" retweetcount="2" status="Dada made a healthy comeback, as he always does! Here's a 'heart' felt message from him on Valentine's Day. Let's h… https://t.co/Je2cGatoz8" createdat="1613277036000" id="1360808636755320837"></div>

From Manyavar’s Kanyadaan to Cadbury’s beef row, here are a few brands that found themselves in trouble in 2021

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51008110.cms" /> 
A few days back, we told you about the release of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-motion-poster-of-Ki-Ka-is-here/articleshow/50534086.cms">motion poster</a> of R. Balki’s upcoming movie <keyword id="3018653" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ki-Ka">Ki &amp; Ka</keyword>, starring <keyword id="2165" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kareena-Kapoor">Kareena Kapoor</keyword> Khan and <keyword id="114453" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arjun-Kapoor">Arjun Kapoor</keyword> in the lead roles. The poster showed Kareena tying a mangalsutra around Arjun Kapoor’s neck, while the tagline said that streeling (female) and pulling (male) is the same thing. 
 
It pretty much gave us the idea that Arjun, who plays Kabir would be a house husband while Kareena, who plays Kia, would be the one minting money in the big bad world out there. Now, the official trailer of the movie is here, and we couldn’t be more correct about the storyline of the movie. 
 
The trailer starts with someone asking Kabir if Kia is the man in their relationship, to which he says that even though in the Indian culture, a man means someone who earns the bread of the family, in their case, it’s just the opposite. 
 
The scene then moves to Kia, who is the marketing manager of a big corporate house, and is expecting quick promotions in the near future. When Ki and Ka talk about their future, Ka, i.e Kabir reveals that he wants to be like his mom, who, to Ki, i.e Kia’s surprise was a housewife. 
Kabir then clarifies that he is a normal man, who just wants to stay away from the rat race in his professional career. 
 
We also meet Swaroop Sampat and Rajit Kapur, who play Kia and Kabir’s family. As the two get married, the famous mangalsutra scene arrives, along with some steamy scenes between the two stars. 
 That Kabir likes to cook is evident from the trailer, as he makes tea, breakfast and dinner for his working wife, while asking money from her to manage the house. However, he can beat some goons in pure macho style too, a stereotypical must for a <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> hero after all, but in the next scene, he wears red sandals as Kareena plays the lead in their couple dance. 
 
Good, different and fun, but even the movie that talks about breaking the stereotypes somehow manages to establish them again, in a role reversal manner though. 
 
Why does Kabir take off his wife’s sandals as she is too tired to take them off herself after a hectic day at work? Why is he the one who makes the breakfast as she sleeps soundly? Why doesn’t she care about his headache when she is in the mood to do it? 
 
These questions make us think if Balki meant to just reverse the roles amongst genders and not show gender equality through this movie, which could have been path breaking, but sadly, isn’t? 
 
Nonetheless, the chemistry between Kareena and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Watch-Varun-Dhawan-and-Arjun-Kapoors-real-introductory-film/articleshow/47526025.cms">Arjun</a> looks sizzling, and it’s after quite some time that Kareena would be seen delivering a performance and not just being in the movie for the sake of glamour. Remember <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Box-Office-Singham-Returns-Manages-A-Smashing-Weekend/articleshow/40367987.cms">Singham Returns</a>, Gabbar Is Back and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Just-Three-More-Days-For-The-Trailer-Of-Bajrangi-Bhaijaan/articleshow/47676499.cms">Bajrangi Bhaijaan</a>, anyone? Even though the first trailer didn’t give us any glimpse of the role that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Jaya-and-Amitabh-Bachchan-shoot-for-Ki-and-Ka-inside-Jalsa/articleshow/48512138.cms">Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan</a> would be playing in the movie, it does manage to raise the curiosity levels to some extent. 
 
The movie releases on 1st April, and you can catch the Eros-exclusive trailer <a href="http://erosnow.com/#!/movie/watch/1047825/ki-and-ka/6679644/exclusive---official-trailer">here</a>. 
 
Image source

Ki & Ka official trailer out; is Balki redefining gender roles or just switching them?

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/50534147.cms" /> 
We all know what a brilliant director and writer R. Balki is, and he has proven it time and again, with his ventures Cheeni Kum, Paa, English Vinglish, and lately, Shamitabh. 
 His next venture comes in the form of <keyword id="3018653" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ki-Ka">Ki &amp; Ka</keyword>, a romantic comedy starring <keyword id="2165" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kareena-Kapoor">Kareena Kapoor</keyword> as Kia and <keyword id="114453" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arjun-Kapoor">Arjun Kapoor</keyword> as Kabir, a modern couple with a twist. 
 
This was the only brief that we had about the movie until now, however, with the motion poster of the movie being released today, we have a slightly better idea about the whole ‘twist’ in question. 
Amitabh Bachchan, who has acted in all of Balki’s ventures until now and is playing a guest role in Ki &amp; Ka along with wife Jaya Bachchan took to his social media accounts to share the motion poster. 
 
Here, have a look: 
 
<blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/AmitabhBachchan/videos/1176856062348181/">
	<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmitabhBachchan/videos/1176856062348181/">#KiandKaMotionPoster</a>
	
		#KiandKaMotionPoster .. !!
	Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmitabhBachchan/">Amitabh Bachchan</a> on Monday, 11 January 2016</blockquote>
 
That’s right, it’s Kareena Kapoor putting a mangalsutra around Arjun Kapoor’s neck, with the motion poster announcing that streeling (female) and pulling (male), is the same thing. What we can make out from this poster is that Kia would be a working woman and Kabir would be a stay at home husband, dealing with the lemons that life throws at them. 
 
Interesting enough? But beware, the movie releases on April Fool’s day, so you might as well be ready to be fooled by the creative genius.

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